DeSantis Plans Major Economic Speech Next Week as Part of Reset

Article content

(Bloomberg) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is preparing to give a major economic address next week, according to people familiar with the plans, the latest in a series of measures to steady his shaky 2024 presidential bid. 

Article content

Several donors and allies have urged the governor in recent days to stop talking so much about his record in Florida and speak to broader, national issues like the state of the economy, that are significant to Republican primary voters. Polls show a majority of Americans don’t approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, giving Republican challengers an opening to attack.

Article content

DeSantis and his team have spent the last several days drafting remarks that touch on inflation, China, US manufacturing and energy policy, according to the people familiar. The DeSantis team promised donors at a recent retreat in Park City, Utah, that it would unveil its sweeping economic agenda in the coming days.

The DeSantis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Article content

Article content

The Florida governor is in the midst of a campaign reset, after a rocky start marred by unforced errors, profligate spending and staff shakeups. Considered the strongest challenger to former President Donald Trump just six months ago, DeSantis has torpedoed in polls since his May 24 formal announcement. There’s less than six months before Iowa Republicans kick off the primary voting cycle. 

DeSantis and his wife, Casey, have been frustrated and want the campaign reoriented by September when they think Americans will start to tune into the 2024 presidential race, said one fundraiser who attended the Park City retreat.

On Tuesday, his campaign initiated a second round of staff cuts and eliminated roughly two dozen jobs. In total, the campaign has 38 fewer staffers than it did two weeks ago before its cash crunch became public with a federal campaign filing. 

Article content

Earlier: DeSantis Lays Off Third of Staff in Reboot of 2024 Campaign

This week, the governor is making fundraising sweeps through the South with events in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee. 

The campaign is still working out the time and location for the economic speech, but it will be sandwiched in between a slate of fundraisers in the Midwest the week of July 31, including ones in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Kansas City, Missouri; and Wichita, Kansas. 

In talking points distributed to donors in recent days, the DeSantis campaign called the economy and China two of the four central themes moving forward and indicated the economic message would zero in on inflation, government spending and domestic energy production.

Article content

Prior to his presidential announcement, DeSantis was considered a more cerebral version of Trump, sharing his policy platforms without the baggage. But his hyper-focus on culture war fights has detracted from that branding.  

In addition to campaigning and fundraising, the governor has been working on preparations for the first Republican debate on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. DeSantis personally assured donors in Park City that he was taking the prep work seriously, and his team has been devising one-liners as well as brainstorming themes and policy areas they want to hit from the stage. 

They are preparing for potentially sharing the stage with Trump, who hasn’t committed to attending the debate due to his wide polling lead, as well as the possibility that he skips the event entirely.

Since DeSantis’s official campaign launch, his team has been meeting at least once a week for debate prep, said people familiar with the schedule. Senior staffers involved include manager Generra Peck, pollster Ryan Tyson, policy guru Dustin Carmack and Jason Johnson, who worked for US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and helped him prepare for the presidential debates in 2016.

Article content